Bulldogs set to â€óRockâ€™

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, May 14, 2009

Toward the end of the regular season, the Plainview Bulldogs were really starting to click as a team as they got ready for the state playoffs.

Plainview (13-15) finished second to unbeaten Frenship in District 4-4A and was looking forward to beginning its second playoff run in as many seasons. That was way back on April 21 when Plainview ended its season with a loss to the Tigers.

Then the UIL delayed all interscholastic extracurricular activities and put the baseball playoffs on hold.

Eventually, the UIL softened its stance and allowed games to be played a week earlier than planned, messing up more of the Bulldogs' plans. After that, they wouldn't be able to play a warm-up game before beginning the playoffs.

After all the delays and rescheduling, the Dogs finally found out their bi-district opponent would be the Caprock Longhorns, a team the Dogs have already defeated twice this season and beat in the same round of the playoffs last season.

So, after almost three full weeks of not playing a competitive game, Plainview is set to return to the diamond to open a best-of-3 series at 7 p.m. Friday at Bulldog Park to get the playoffs started - finally.

"We've looked really good in practice the last few days, probably the best practices we've had all year," Plainview head coach Carter James said. "I think we're ready to play."

Caprock (12-17) has been able to play once since the layoff, a seeding game against Hereford which the Longhorns won 13-0. Still, James and the Bulldogs are confident in their abilities to turn the competitiveness back on.

"They've been able to play a game since the layoff and maybe that's an advantage for them, but we're rested so maybe that's an advantage for us," said James. "I think (the delay) will help us out in the long run. We were able to take some time out and work on some little things and get some of that straightened out, and we wouldn't have had time to work on that stuff if this hadn't happened."

Plainview met Caprock twice early in the season and came away with victories in both contests.

In their first meeting, the Bulldogs edged out a 5-4 win. In the second game, Plainview dominated and won by eight runs, 10-2.

"We're confident. We've already played them twice. They're a tough team and we'll have to play to beat them, but I'm confident and the kids are confident, too," said James. "We feel like we're a good team and we've gotten even better over the last few weeks."

James hasn't been one for complexity all season, and he hasn't changed his tune for the playoffs.

"As far as strategy goes, we want to score more runs than them twice," said James. "We just want to win every play. That's something we've talked about. Win every pitch, every at-bat, and if we do that there is no way we'll lose."

Game 2 will start at 1 p.m. Saturday at Caprock with Game 3 to follow if necessary.

James isn't concerned with having to close out the series on the road.

"We've won some games at home now so that helps out, and we've won games on their field in a tournament," the coach said. "Once you're in the playoffs you don't get to play at home a whole lot and we're used to that. We didn't get to play at home a whole lot during the season."

While anything can happen in the playoffs, especially in the current situation, the Bulldogs are expecting great things.

"We definitely do want to make a run in the playoffs, but we're in no way overlooking Caprock. It's a new season and it doesn't matter what happened back in April and March. Everybody's 0-0," said James. "If we get hot we've got a chance to go three full rounds."

The winner of the series will face the winner of El Paso Ysleta and El Paso Burges.